...Hallyu began roughly 12 years ago when the rest of Asia discovered Korean soap operas. One of the breakthrough dramas was a series 'Winter Sonata' starring Choi Ji-woo & Bae Young-Joon. After that, more Korean dramas saw their way to foreign shores and Korean films and music started to follow suit. Korean marketing people started to see a Korea-centric trend. They dubbed this flow "The Korean Wave" or Hallyu....

8.9.12

[News] Cha Seung-won to expand career into play.

[News] Cha Seung-won to expand career into play.Cr. - 10asia

Breaking out from a year-long hiatus after starring in MBC’s hit series “The Greatest Love,” Korean actor Cha Seung-won will mark his comeback in a Japanese play.

The actor will star in veteran Japanese play director Jung Eui-Shin’s new work, “Bring Me My Chariot of Fire,” according to his international agency ArtistView Friday.

Set in the early 1900s, the much-anticipated play will pivot around a group of young men who fight together to secure traditional Korean art and cultural works during the historic turbulence.

Cha will play a Korean man named Lee Soon-woo, who build a friendship with a Japanese man that has a strong affection towards Korean culture, Yanakihara Naoki [played by Kusanagi Tsuyoshi].

Co-starring famous Japanese actors Hirosue Ryoko, Kagawa Teruyuki, and Korean veteran actor Kim Eung-soo, the play will open at the Akasaka ACT Theater in Toyko on November 3.

The production will then take the show to Osaka’s Umeda Art Theater in December and fly into Seoul to pull the curtains up at the National Theater of Korea early next year.